The plan has also been utilized a great deal in recent years for the identification of enlisted men in the army and navy. Finger-prints are made, immediately upon enlistment, of each separate finger and thumb of both hands. Group impressions are also taken with the four fingers of each hand pressed down simultaneously. When needed for any particular purpose, such finger-prints are usually enlarged by means of a special camera, to five times their natural size. The Story in a Rifle[6] How It Began. A naked savage found himself in the greatest danger. A wild beast, hungry and fierce, was about to attack him. Escape was impossible. Retreat was cut off. He must fight for his life--but how? Should he bite, scratch or kick? Should he strike with his fist? These were the natural defenses of his body, but what were they against the teeth, the claws and the tremendous muscles of his enemy? Should he wrench a dead branch from a tree and use it for a club? That would bring him within striking distance to be torn to pieces before he could deal a second blow. There was but a moment in which to act. Swiftly he seized a jagged fragment of rock from the ground and hurled it with all his force at the blazing eyes before him; then another, and another, until the beast, dazed and bleeding from the unexpected blows, fell back and gave him a chance to escape. He knew that he had saved his life, but there was something else which his dull brain failed to realize. _He had invented arms and ammunition!_ In other words, he had needed to strike a harder blow than the blow of his fist, at a greater distance than the length of his arm, and his brain showed him how to do it. After all, what is a modern rifle but a device which man has made with his brain permitting him to strike an enormously hard blow at a wonderful distance? Firearms are really but a more perfect form of stone-throwing, and this early Cave Man took the first step that has led down the ages to the present-day arms and ammunition. This strange story of a development that has been taking place slowly through thousands and thousands of years, so that today you are able to take a swift shot at distant game instead of merely throwing stones. The Earliest Hunters. The Cave Man and his descendants learned the valuable lesson of stone-throwing, and it made hunters of them, not big-game hunters--that was far too risky; but once in a while a lucky throw might bring down a bird or a rabbit for food. And so it went on for centuries, perhaps. Early mankind was rather slow of thought. At last, however, there appeared a great inventor--the Edison of his day. He took the second step. A Nameless Edison. We do not know his name. Possibly he did not even have a name, but in some way he hit upon a scheme for throwing stones farther, harder and straighter than any of his ancestors.